mr eggwhistle found luke in the bakery. he had a big white beard and his face and arms were ccvered with flour.
luke agreed to meet mr eggwhistle after dinner on the verandah.
they sat in rocking chairs. the sun was gong down over the trees, on the other side of the wide green lawn.
“johnny? sure, everybody remembers johnny,” luke replied to mr eggwhistle’s first questipn.
“yes, but different people seem to remember him differently.”
“i don’t know about that. was there anything in particular you wanted to know?” luke kept is gaze on the trees, and the crows flying over them.
“the last two people i talked to about johnny,” mr eggwhistle said, “gave mr copies of gospels about him. would you happen to have one, too?”
”why,, of course. i thought you would never ask.” without looking at mr eggwhistle, luke shifted his weight and took a pamphlet out of his back pocket and handed it to him.
it was about the same size as the pmphlets he had received from zeke and ike, and was titled the gospel of johnny dark, according to luke.
does everybody in this place have a gospel of johnny dark? mr eggwhistle asked luke.
luke seemed mildly annoyed at the question. “of course not. only johnny’s truest disciples. who else but a true disciple would write down anybody’s gospel?”
“of course. that was a silly question. i don’t know what i was thinking.”
luke pointed to the trees. “did you see that crow that just flew away?”
“uh - no, i did not happen to be looking that way.”
“you can’t look every which way all the time,” luke said .
“that is very true,” mr eggwhistle agreed.
“do you think the crow will return?” luke asked.
“hard to say.”
“yes, it is. hard to say. now you are beginning to understand.”
mr eggwhistle noticed that luke still had traces of flour on his arms and on his shirt.
No comments:
Post a Comment